ML123

Thanks guys all solid advice and I appreciate taking the time to respond. The thin cases makes a lot of sense now the S&B cases are definitely heavier than the FC or Blazer. I have the MBF powder funnel on the way and also think that is going to really help. Thanks Dryheat that Redding die may be in my future and the more I get into this I am thinking prepping 9mm brass on the Lee APP press might not be a bad idea. I always wondered why so many people liked to do brass prep for 9mm separate with progressive presses. I am going to set up the press with the MBF powder funnel run cases in all stations to set the dies and set the seating die up with a S&B case. If the FC and Blazer are thinner cases I am thinking they should seat the same or close to the heavier wall cases, if that's the case lol! I have more S&B cases in this batch of mixed brass and would like to use them. I haven't had an issue loading primers in them but the press does run noticeably smoother with the FC or Blazer cases.

Thanks I am going to measure a few and see what the differences are.

I have a MBF powder funnel on its way. I have had a case in the sizing die when tightening the seating die but not in the crimp or powder funnel. When it gets here I will tear it all apart and start over again......lol I am going to keep sorting and loading different brass to get a range of what is to be expected. I also want to try case lube on those S&B cases and see if it makes a difference in OAL. Thanks for the advice

Thanks Sarge, your advise is always solid and I have read a bunch of it while searching. I would like to know where that definitive list of headstamps is on this site that you have referred to on older posts I have read. I looked and can not seem to find a good one and there seems to be a lot of opinions. Like PMC who AHI seems to like but then I read 2-3 posts in my searches that complain about them blowing up? SORT- I agree and will be sorting or at the very least decapping on the APP press I bought to do rifle brass. In my short experience in loading, I have loaded a .380 case, bent a LEE decapping pin piercing a 22lr case inside a 9mm case and have crush 3 precious primers on crimped case and I am tired of resetting the decapping pin all in 500 rds. I have not tried Lubing the cases. I do have a can of One Shot I planned to use for rifle brass. I think I am going to run a few test rounds with S&B with and without lube and see what happens. Moving- good advice and some I have been trying to follow. I run a few test rounds then run 20-50 and get an avg. Then run will run out the rest of the brass I loaded. I am case gauging 100rds at a time in a Hundo and checking all the primers. Interestingly enough the FC cases not only had the tightest OAL measure they really looked good in the Hundo. My OCD goes nuts looking at that thing with some sticking up more than others which is much worse with mixed brass.

Thanks I could not find that the *USA* brass was Winchester even with search engine searches I did find a recent topic on it in 2019 but no one identified where they came from I use the search extensively. I have many hobbies and have been participating on internet forums since the mid 90s so I try to figure out the answer first. Some times when you are new you don't always know what to ask in the search to begin with. I did measure a bunch of bullets which are BBI and seem popular on here. They all measure really close and dont seem to have a lot of variance. I have Mitotoyo calipers which I have had for at least 20 years. That seems like compromising with as much variation as I am getting. Plus I dont think .010 in either direction is acceptable. But why dont I have that kind of variation when using only one case like FC or Blazer? Thanks for the feedback.

Yes I am having fun with it and learning a lot. I am a garage/tool geek to begin with so this is right up my alley! I just got into 3 gun this year and reloading kind of out of necessity. I have a Dillon XL750 I am using Lee dies and just switched to the Dillon seating die. I am loading BBI 147g coated bullets with 3.2g Titegroup and CCI No.500 primers. My CZ S2 chamber will plunk up to about 1.088 in length and I like to be at 1.085 or less. I have the seating die set at 1.080 to begin with if I reset it to 1.075 and some of the S&B cases are giving me 1.094 now they still might not plunk. If I go to 1.070 I will have a few FC cases that will be in the 1.068 range. I don't have a chrono and not sure how much of a difference .010 in OAL makes and if it is anything to even worry about in loading minor rounds?

I am new to reloading and have loaded 800rds 9mm so far. I fired the first 300rds without issue but was getting a huge spread on my OAL and couldn't figure out why so I started sorting my brass just so I could run everything the same. I loaded four so far FC, Blazer, S&B and *USA*. FC and Blazer seemed to be spot on with what I set the seating die up for 1.080, FC was right on Blazer tad longer in 1.082-4 range. I loaded 300rds of these two and all of them case gauged in the Hundo nicely too. S&B and *USA* were both way to long at 1.090-1.094 with all of these rounds failing the plunk test in my CZ chamber. I loaded about 50 rds of these two cases and the results were all the same and very consistent. I am going to try Winchester cases today. I also pulled all the WMA and WCC Winchester brass as I believe it is crimped? Does anyone know what FC 19 or FC 18 cases are I did a search and not finding anything? I pulled them suspecting military brass but they don't look like they have crimp and are definitely different than the std FC case? I found the thread on FC NT but these are definitely FC 19 or a few FC 18. Does anyone know who makes *USA* brass I found a thread talking about it and it was determined its not starline? I also found a few lists of headstamps to avoid is there a good source for what not to use? I know to throw out Ammoland and PMC any others?

I am new to reloading and finding a significant difference in OAL with the type of brass I use. I would try and use all the same headstamp starting out if you are loading mixed range brass.

Ok I am now sorting all my brass lol! I did find several more .380 cases and .22Lr cases inside 9mm cases which took out a depriming pin on me already. I have been chasing getting this press set up to run the same bullet OAL twice and it has been frustrating. Is it me or is there a significant difference in OAL with the brass you use? I have a bunch of mixed once fired range brass. If I set the seating die up at 1.080 and just dump in unsorted brass I was getting anywhere from 1.074 to 1.094 lengths. I adjusted, re-adjusted, adjusted again then replaced the Lee seating die with a dillon, nessed with the shell plate, went over all the die rings etc, it was still the same. So I sorted the brass so I could load everything and get exactly the same results and it seems to have worked. I am getting very consistent lengths but have a significant difference in OAL with the type of brass I load. Is this normal or am I still doing something wrong with my press setup? I started with the four headstamps I seemed to have the most of on hand, FC, Blazer, S&B, *USA* FC cases for 100rds is SPOT on with what I set up the press for 1.079-1.082 OAL. Blazer was also very consistent but a tad longer 1.080-1.083 I ran 200rds of them. Then I tried S&B some *USA* brass which were both in the 1.090-1.094 range. I ran at least 20rds of each and all of them were very consistent in length and all of them to long for my CZ chamber and failed to plunk. I have to try Winchester which I plan to do today, I also have enough R&P try and load the rest I need to sort more brass to get enough to load. Is this normal?

Well it is finally here!! I am new to this stuff this year and thought the trigger on my S2 was nice this one is ridiculous! I can not wait to shoot it! Thank you Stuart! CZC did the entire build: Shadow Accu bushing slide I got from Stuart Poly Coat Burnt Bronze Comp Hammer Extended Firing Pin & Spring 13# Hammer spring CZC Short disconnector Combat Trigger Trigger pin Pre B Sear Shadow 2 mag release Lok Palm swell bogies I was going to keep the SP-01 stock upper since they match the frame but the CZC upper I got does not have serialized barrel or slide so I am probably going to sell the stock SP-01 upper with Dawson sights. LMK interest or what you guys think it is worth.

Well as a update. I loaded 200rds and fired them all without incident last weekend. I did chamber check everyone before hand. They actually shoot really nice noticeably flatter than the 135g Fed Syntech I was using. I was chasing some other issues with wide variations in OAL which I mentioned above. It appears I am having issues with keeping the die locking rings tightened and the sizing die came loose and was likely the culprit. I was also having issues with brass shaving and switched to a Dillon seating die which does seem to work better. I also ordered a MBF powder funnel for case expansion. I am close, a few more tweaks and upgrades and I hope to crank out some rounds with consistency this weekend. I want to use them for an upcoming match on the 25th. I am waiting on the new powder funnel and a decapping pin for the Lee sizing die from Midway which should be here before the weekend. I read a few threads about lose dies and it seems its not an uncommon issue with Dillon and their die rings especially if you use there wrenches. I have the o-ringed Lee die rings and may add one underneath the tool head for the dies that have enough thread top and bottom. If not I will tighten them with a proper tool and maybe add teflon tape to the threads on the die in the tool head. All I can remember when tightening them with that chessey wrench is Gary saying it not a SBC and you dont need to Tq it to 90lb/ft lol!

Anyone see this yet https://www.ebay.com/itm/Dillon-XL650-XL750-case-feeder-Lee-App-brass-case-processing-adapters-9mm-45acp-/174268533439 I am guessing it can be made to work with .223 pretty easily too.

I posted on this in another thread I posted some pics of how the 18rd tube and Springer extension will fit (page 4). I put Grams followers and springs in and had issues with FTE and double feed. I am planning to move the springs over to the 17rd tubes and I may be interested in selling the extensions for the 18rd tubes. They look like they would fit well with a mag well.

Thanks your advice is starting to make sense to me. I have a Dillon seating die on its way which I want to switch to since it is only a seating die and does not crimp and has the bullet seater for a square nose. I think I am also going to order the MBF powder funnel and when they get here go through the entire set up again. I also found a youtuber showing a method for adjusting the shell plate that should be easy to follow he tightens down the main bolt, then the brass tipped screw, and then loosen the main bolt to where the plate will index https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMRHCFbETXE&t=3s I kind of wish I started with new brass for the first round. Starline offers new brass at a pretty reasonable price and I would at least have more consistency in length and weight of the casing which would make life easier in setting it up for the first time.

Yes thank you that DA powder funnel looks like another must have piece, lol. I did back the flare off to .380 which it did seem like that is what fixed the shaving issues but it takes a little longer to put a bullet in and make sure it is straight before I seat it.

Thanks as someone new to this I find myself doing this quite a bit. I have been pulling shells off the plate too. I am also weighing all the rounds to be double sure. I had one end up being really light and I suspected a squib load, I pulled the bullet and it had the correct powder charge ended up being a .380 case lol.

Thanks Miranda you may be on to something with the shell plate adjustment and I am going to look into that tonight. I ran some more rounds last night after pulling the seating die out and cleaning it. I don't have a bit small enough to fit inside the die opening to polish out the machine marks. I did get most of the brass shavings to stop though by setting up the die with a round in it. I took an existing round that measure 1.080 and put it in and screwed the die down till it just touched the case then backed it out a few turns. I then turned the seating plunger down till it just touched the bullet then tightened the die with a case loaded in the sizing die too. I ran about 50 rds and had almost no shavings with the die set up like that. I also adjusted the bevel on the powder die smaller to .380 and made several dummy rounds with minor adjustments to seating die. The final 4 dummy rounds were 1..755 to 1.0805 OAL crimp was .37455 to .3755. I then loaded up and ran 50 rounds. I took the first 13 rounds and measured them and the range for OAL was 1.0855 to 1.0970 crimp was .3750 to .3780. This was a little more consistent than the last rounds I ran but why was it that much more than the dummy rounds I set it up with? I will loosen the crimp some but will that affect how it fits in the case gauge? I have pulled a bunch of bullets apart and I am putting a light indentation on them with the current crimp and not breaking the coating. I haven't quite figure out why some rounds fail the case gauge but will plunk fine in my barrel. I am definitely going to look at that shell plate, thanks

Im still figuring it out and appreciate the response lol The p09/p10 mags fit the larger tactical sport frame and not the S2 or SP-01 correct? I am planning to tackle this project again and would like to get 22 with a working slide stop by modifying the factory followers.

I am actually doing that same swap, actually CZC is doing it. I lucked out and bought a complete Accushadow slide from Stuart. I ended up sending him the rest of the gun to mod and build and hopefully will have it back in the next few weeks. I asked him about converting it to a non FPB model and he said it was no big deal and all that needed done was removal of the firing lifter lever.

Well from someone who has none, if I could buy them from someone here for $125/1k I would have happily done so. I am out of ammo. I wasn't shooting or reloading whenever we had these shortages in the past. I kept 1k-2k rounds on hand which was plenty for someone who only shot 1k-2k a year yet alone a month! But then I decided to try a 3 gun match, lol I bought reloading equipment this month to load for this reason otherwise I was perfectly happy with Fed syntech 135g for $234 shipped to my door!!! Even at $0.13/primer it is still less than .30/round to load and a significant savings over the going price for 9mm in any configuration right now. I am going to save $400-450 to load my first 1k rounds of 9mm right now and I NEED it to get through this year! I ended up getting primers by finding small rifle magnum primers for $40/1k and selling 2k of them for $245 and buying 1K of Federal small pistol for $160. So it cost me $85 for 1k small pistol primers and I am super happy with that deal!!! Sarge I appreciate wanting to keep this place respectful but we are all about free market and society and who know when or even IF we will ever get back to buying primers at .03 a piece.

Good luck, I just got started reloading this month and bought my Dillon 750 at the beginning of Sept with plans to load 9mm and 223. I started collecting materials in August when I realized I was not going to make it through this season with my 9mm stocks. I am glad I did too, and have really enjoyed the experience so far other than trying to find stuff. Your list similar to mine. I also went with Lee Dies as they were the only ones I could find but I seem to be having issues getting the 9mm seating die to work correctly. I just ordered a Dillon seating die for 9mm which they list as having in stock even though the Dillon 9mm 3 die set is still on BO. I think the Lee decapping/sizing and factory crimp dies will be fine to use. The issue I am having can also just be me too lol! I have not had any issues finding materials other than primers. I had some luck with local shops like mentioned earlier but that has seemed to dry up last 2 weeks. I was getting mostly small rifle and small rifle magnum which I was able to trade for small pistol primers to get started with. I got bullets from Black Bullets and once fired casing from precision brass. I have been using this site for recipes on 9mm and 223 powder recommendations. http://www.natoreloading.com/9mm/ I haven't started loading 223 yet as it is much more involved than 9mm. I bought the Lee APP press specifically for just prepping rifle brass. It was pretty inexpensive and works well from what I can tell so far. I have decapped and sized about 300 cases and started swagging a few. I am working on a rifle case feeding system and waiting on a go no go gauge to check the primer pockets I have swagged. To load 223 on the 750 I ordered a new tool head with powder die with caliber conversion and shell plate for case feeder from Dillon which should make the caliber swap not so complicated. I also have Lee 223 die set but not sure I am going to use them or wait till the Dillon ones come back in stock since I am having issues with the Lee 9mm dies. I still need to figure out what method I want to use for trimming chamffering and de-burring rifle brass. Lee has a trimmer tool I can use on the press but I think this one may be faster if use a Triway from Giraud that I chuck up in my drill press. https://www.giraudtool.com/giraud-tri-way-trimmer.html I look forward to hearing how it works out. For me I ran the first 100rds and have tested fired 10 of them successfully. I plan to shoot the rest this week. I literally measured, weighed and checked every round in the chamber of my CZ so hopefully it goes well.

I am having the same issue with 147g BBI bullets on a DIllon 750 with Lee die set. I don't believe its the bullet I think is has to do with the Lee seating die and using a flat nose bullet. I posted about this in a couple of other threads looking for direction so please post what you end up finding.

I am using Lee Dies in a Dillon 750 simply because Lee was the only 9mm die set I can find available to buy these days. I am having the same issue as OP with brass shavings everywhere and I did the same thing playing with the flare size on the dillon powder die to try and fix it. I am also having issues with OAL being nowhere near consistent which I don't understand. I called Dillon and was told 10-15 thou was acceptable when using mixed brass casings? I just loaded my first 100rds and my OAL is all over the place as low as 1.070 all the way to 1.094. My crimp will range .375-.377. I dont think the Lee die is contacting the bullet nose correctly since I use a truncated nose BBI coated bullet? I think its not going in squarely causing the shavings and inconsistent seating depth? Would the Dillon seating die be the best choice to correct this or are there better choice? Right now I am not sure I can get a dillon and Redding is on BO everythere I looked. My local shop may have a Hornady in stock. Dillon's site list the 9mm die set still on BO but had a seating die available which I ordered but will see if it comes or shows up as it shows as BO everywhere else. I have the Lee die out and going to smooth out the machine marks on the entrance and I was going to back the die way out to avoid any possibility of crimping. I had it turned out 3 turns like the instructions stated but think that is still to deep? I am a total newb just getting into this due to not being able to buy ammo. I am also learning how to reload almost completely from info on this board which has been invaluable, Thanks.

I got 15 rounds loaded last night and took them to the indoor range today and fired 10 of them. All 10 fired and cycled without issue and are a lot easier to shoot than the factory Fed Syntech 135g. I did not get to chrono them at an indoor range and they had a CCW class there with all other lanes booked, fortunately a nice gentleman and the RO let me squeeze in to shoot the 10 rds so I was in and out fast. And of course I now have more questions lol! My current set up: BBI 47g coated bullets, mixed once fired range brass, 3.2g Titegroup, CCI small pistol primers, 1.08x OAL, 3.75 crimp. 1. I might be beveling the case mouth to much I am seeing brass shavings when seating the bullet? I have it set up to bevel at about 3.87 and I my crimp set at 3.75 to 3.76. I did put together a bunch of dummy rounds when setting it up and I pulled the bullets to check the crimp and reuse them. I am leaving a slight indentation on the bullet but not cutting into the coating or exposing the lead. 2. OAL, I measured all of the rounds and they range from 1.079 all the way to 1.090 with most being in the 1.080-1.084 range. The one round I had at 1.090 would not plunk in my CZ chamber, it also did not gauge in the Hundo case gauge either and may have just been a bad round. I had one round at 1.087 that did plunk just fine and fired with no issues. Is this normal to have such a spread on OAL? Should I dial the seating die back some to accommodate for this or am I doing something wrong? I have Lee Deluxe die set and using a separate seating and crimp dies. 3. I had two rounds hang up in the Hundo case gauge the 1.090 round I mentioned above and one that was 1.082 that did seat in the case gauge but was tight. Both had a 3.75 crimp. I am trying to understand why I had two rounds to hang up in the case gauge and not plunk in my CZ barrel? While the 1.090 round could have been to long it also failed the case gauge and I could not measure why with the calipers? BTW the two rounds that would not plunk in my CZ barrel fit just fine in a Glock 17 barrel but I get the feeling just about anything will plunk in a Glock barrel. I picked up a few of the casing I fired to inspect the primers, if anyone with experience can take a look and give me some feedback they look fine to me? Thanks everyone for taking time to respond to this thread, the info provided along with info I found in prior threads and searching on this site has been invaluable. The Dillon manual leaves a lot to be desired, the videos are a little better but they dont show in detail for a newb some of the steps they are going through on the setup.

I am just getting started in reloading due to ammo shortage and prices. The Primer issue has been a big one but even at ridiculous prices it is still way cheaper than buying factory 9mm at over sixty cents a round! I have been able to get small rifle and small pistol at a local shop at a little more than normal prices. You can only buy 1k at a time and I go every week when they get new supplies in. So far I have managed to get 3k small rifle mag, 1k small rifle, 1k small pistol in APS strips lol. I sold 2k of the small rifle mag at GB prices and turned around and bought 1k small pistol at GB prices so it was a wash. So for now I managed to acquire 2k Sm rifle mag, 1k small rifle match, 2k sm pistol for a little more than normal prices with some swapping and leg work which should keep me busy for awhile.